First engine rebuild

[Suddenly]

Hey fellow IDI enthusiasts,

Posting here to document my first engine rebuild, and hopefully get advice along the way. So far I've got it partially torn down, and found some residue/burning on the pistons which I'm not sure what it is. My guess is leaking injectors.

My plan is to build a reliable engine, to pull my RV and eventually put a truck camper on the truck.
So far it'll get head studs and comp 910 springs, as well Justin is going to either be rebuilding my turbo or I'll grab a stage 1.

I have a R and D 90 pump, water **** injection, and an ATS intercooler I'll be taking off another truck.

How much fuel and air can I put into this thing before trading reliability for power?

Thanks, Dan

 

[IDIBOBS]

I’d do a cam also. And if you’re doing all that an intercooler to keep egts down. How heavy is your trailer? How fast do you want to go? My mostly stock 1990 7.3 with a banks doing 12psi MAX pulls the 10k lb horse trailer up the local 6% grade at the 55mph speed limit just fine with plenty to go.

 

[WrenchWhore]

My first question would be what's the full backstory on this engine you're starting to build? Year, displacement, engine health, mileage, what did it come out of?

 

[Nero]

From someone who has an intercooled engine with Justin's 90cc pump, you'll be happy with it. I dont have water injection, have thought about it, but that cost money. Just keep my foot out of it

 

[Suddenly]

My first question would be what's the full backstory on this engine you're starting to build? Year, displacement, engine health, mileage, what did it come out of?

Long story short, I took this engine out of my truck because it had an exhaust tick. The engine I put in is even worse so now I'm doing it right.
Had 200k KM when pulled. 93 7.3 NA

 

[Suddenly]

From someone who has an intercooled engine with Justin's 90cc pump, you'll be happy with it. I dont have water injection, have thought about it, but that cost money. Just keep my foot out of it

My other truck is the one I use for my trailer now, the 90 pump is set to 80 still but it is intercooled, water **** and 5 speed. I think the turbo is tired though as it will only spool to 12psi

 

[Nero]

Should push more than that, is it gated but tied shut? May be the gate is creeping open.

 

[Suddenly]

Should push more than that, is it gated but tied shut? May be the gate is creeping open.

I adjusted the wastegate, as well as tied it when I didn't get the results I wanted. It's definitely getting the fuel since I leave a trail of black smoke if i give it more pedal

 

[Nero]

Would definitely suggest doing a wastegate delete. I had noticeable improvement between tied shut gate vs a block off.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I would recommend some quality aftermarket gauges as well. It sounds like you need a pyro at the top of your list. Boost gauges are hood for ego, but a pyro is good for long engine life.

 

[Suddenly]

I would recommend some quality aftermarket gauges as well. It sounds like you need a pyro at the top of your list. Boost gauges are hood for ego, but a pyro is good for long engine life.

Pyro was my first purchase after I got the truck. I don't know how people neglect egts for 30 years.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I don't know how people neglect egts for 30 years.

My only guess is lack of knowledge.

 

[Suddenly]

Upon further inspection today, looks like my valves and pistons kissed, in a few of the holes. What is this a sign of?

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Lack of valve to piston clearance for some reason. If it's been rebuilt before, there may have been too much material taken off of the heads. I've seen it on what I believe to be stock engines after doing a R&R and then tearing the old ones apart to be redone. I have no explanations for it.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I guess that you now have a visual reason to check the valve clearances before reassembly. I ended up doing an overhaul on my engine because of the stupidity of a "machinist" who claimed to know all of the specs and still took too much material off of the heads. Two valves only had .0045" clearance. That's not nearly enough! I ended up finding a set of .015" decompressed pistons to stick in there. No problems since about May of 2018.